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Last night I set to work on sorting the suspension. There were a few things I'd overlooked. First off, the shock springs are different lengths, not only are standard springs shorter than the 'stock' summit ones but the tan spring are shorter again than the yellow one. I hadn't noticed this before mainly because I fitted shock covers and couldn't see if the spring was seated.

Once the preload nuts were wound down onto the springs correctly the summit sat up at the correct sag. It raised up so much in fact that I decided to move the rear pushrods to the outer of the two holes (only one choice on the front) to lower it down slightly again. While I had the shocks out I also changed the stock oil from 50wt to 30wt that I had laying around, this made the damping much better and now returns at a reasonable rate although there is room for improvement later on.

I then fitted RPM Revo bumper mounts to lower the bumpers and allow me to lower the shell without cutting it. I moved it down two holes, the bumpers allow for three but the shell would foul the wheels if it went any lower. It has about the right 'look' now. I didn't take a picture but will get one up soon.

After spending ages getting the wheels aligned with camber a tow I discovered that it was all in vane as the wheels are badly warped from the boiling and pulling of tyres. They will do for now but ultimately need to be binned and replaced. Later though, this has cost enough as it is.

With the changes to the suspension it handles much better now absorbing bumps rather than bumping over them although I think it needs to be more supple still. The increased ride height also meant it cleared obstacles that it couldn't earlier. I had loads of fun with it...

I'm still not happy with the shock set up, the front is still way too slow. I think the spring is too soft to puch through the 30wt, the rear is about the right speed dampening but I think the spring is too heavy.

I've ordered some more springs, lighter oils and the shock tuning kit with the three choices of piston, I'm hoping ill be able to get them really dialled in and save everyone else having to mess around finding the right setup.

I also have next week off so will set about the shell, I have made some scale stickers including some UK style number plates. The shell will be bright silver with masked and then tinted smoke windows, I want to keep it more subtle looking rather than a flashy paint job.

Also in two minds about changing the pinion, it's good to be able to easily trail in high gear and make super slow movements in low gear but I do miss the occasional top speed bash...

With all the cool scale changes you might need another Summit so you don't have to switch back and forth

Do you know what? I don't think this 'scale' conversion loses that much of the Summits capabilities. So far I've lost some top speed (can be fixed with gearing) and it copes less well with powdery snow. Apart from that it seems as capable, but time will tell.

I'm surprised of ur shock issue because I thought you'd have the opposite effect. The Summit is setup hard to counter act the leverage of the wheels being far away from the chassis during compression. With shortened arms your scaler wheels are closer and not as much force is transered thru the rockers etc. Assuming there's no bind you can always drill an extra hole in the piston etc...

I'm surprised of ur shock issue because I thought you'd have the opposite effect. The Summit is setup hard to counter act the leverage of the wheels being far away from the chassis during compression. With shortened arms your scaler wheels are closer and not as much force is transered thru the rockers etc. Assuming there's no bind you can always drill an extra hole in the piston etc...

Yea thats correct. So far i have put much lighter springs on (too light on the front) and lighter oil (but not thin enough). Im confident that the bits i have coming will sort it.

Blue wheel nuts and a matching blue traxxas stickers in the back windows.

I've also spent a lot of time on the shocks and am now running 20wt oil and no.1 pistons with the washer on top. I've also changed the rear spring from tan to green. It weeks WAY better on the bench but I need to get it out on the trail.

I think I may end up with one heavier in the front (white) and one lighter in the rear (orange). I don't know why the guy on the original build went for such wildly different spring rates.

Any one try the slayer arms with a 40 series tire? I was thinking of doing the "lt" if I could run 40 stuff. Like the moabs on narrow tech 5s. Maybe I missed it but can you run the slayer arms with the lt rockers?

Managed to get onto some good rocks today and it is AWESOME! Unfortunately I rolled end over end onto a rock and split the Lexan, but hey ho, its meant to be used and abused.

summit looks awsome man! really making me want to do this to mine, and show my "axial" buddys whats up! haha have you thought about weighting your tires? i think if you filled the inside of your tires with some flexable lead it would be unreal!

I was on the forum and wanted to update you as to how this conversion has stood the test of time.

Quite well actually, i did end up with white and orange springs and they seem right to me. With spacing the pushrods out both ends it put a lot of stress on the driveshafts and there has been excessive wear to the CV joints. I also fitted an 18t pinion to bring the speed back towards 'stock'.

Its a great conversion and i love how it looks plus its taken a right beating!

BUT, right now it has the original long travel suspension back on it, skid plates and a set of Trencher X on desperadoes with a load of FPV gear strapped to it. This was the reason for getting a Summit in the first place and this whole LT got me distracted. It will get re built as an LT one day. For now its FPV fun and making a Slash 4x4 look scale with a Raptor body.....

I wonder if the Summit looses any of its crawling ability due to this modification. Also, I think I was reading about ground clearance issues...other than that, how does the LT compare to the stock Summit trailing, climbing, bashing? The Pros and Cons of this mod.

Really cool thread....nice work!
I haven't had my summit long...and been thinking of selling it. I'm in Florida and nothing but small rocks here....they call it sand...lol
I could see if one had the right terrain. ....the summit could be a blast!

Anyhow after reading this threar .....I might keep my summit and change tires.....just not one for monster look.
Nice write up thumbs up!!!!